


The Price You Pay

by awhitehead17



Series: Kingdom AU [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: A bit of physical abuse, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternative Universe - Kingdom, Angst, Gen, Ra's is an asshole, Slavery, Tim is Ra's slave, like a slap, not that he wants to be, nothing major, poor Tim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 12:57:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18315704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awhitehead17/pseuds/awhitehead17
Summary: Ever since Ra’s Al Ghul attacked their kingdom, killed Bruce in battle and took the throne for himself, it’s been nothing but a challenge. Life was hard as the slave for the new king but Tim knew what he was getting into when he made the decision to sacrifice himself so his brothers could get away.





	The Price You Pay

**Author's Note:**

> On Tumblr anonymous said 'Kingdom au: Tyrant Ra Al Ghul has a little talk with himself. After that, he turns to his prisoner, Tim and aggressively asks him if he's adored. Tim is grossed and freaked out by Al Ghul, due to how creepy he is.'

“The people are starting to act up once again. By now you would think they would understand the messages that come along with their misbehaviour. What do you think about it Timothy?” 

Tim jumps when he hears his name. He hadn’t been paying any attention to what the man was saying. Tim had lost interest in what Ra’s was saying like three hours ago, from then his mind has just wondering and thinking about anything that wasn’t his current situation.

It’s not like he can get away, the rope that’s tied around his wrists that attaches him to the throne chair is making sure of that. No matter how hard he tugs he can not break free, the only thing he accomplishes is rubbing his wrists red raw and potentially making them bleed. He learnt a long time ago that it just wasn’t worth it.

“Did you hear me Timothy?”

Tim doesn’t answer the question, he simply glares at the man addressing him instead. This doesn’t go down well because the next thing Tim knows is that Ra’s has stormed up to him and is grabbing his chin roughly to yank it so their faces are just inches apart.

“Tell me, Timothy,” Ra’s says lowly, his breath was warm against Tim’s face and it makes him feel uncomfortable, “Am I adored? Do the people I watch over and protect care for me? Do they know what how much effort I put into making sure they can live a free and happy life?”

Tim clenches his jaw and tries to shake his head out of Ra’s hold. The man only tightens his grip which causes Tim to wince in pain as his old, bony fingers dig deep into his cheeks.

“They’ll never love you as their king. They’ll hate you until the day you die, when that day comes everyone will be singing in gratitude and dancing over and on your dead corpse.” Tim sneers at him, he then goes even further and spits at the King.

Ra’s doesn’t immediately react to his vile behaviour. Instead he pauses and glares at Tim, his eyes narrowing dangerously. A few beats go by before he finally let’s go of Tim’s face, but as he does so he sends a sharp slap to Tim’s cheek. A stinging sensation instantly crawls over his skin as his head snaps to the side, the momentum of it causes Tim to fall and sprawl out over the floor. He could taste blood in his mouth as he lies there shocked.

Two black boots appear in his vision and he has no time to prepare himself before a hand was grabbing his hair and yanking his head up. Tim lets out a hiss of pain as he’s forced to stretched and once again Ra’s face was just millimetres away from his.

“Now boy, you should know you can’t talk to me like that. You’re lucky I like you because if that was anyone else they’ll already be dead, so be grateful that I’m letting this instance go. If it happens again there will be worse consequences, do you understand?”

Tim doesn’t answer.

“I said, _do you understand.”_ Ra’s repeats again.

“Yes.”

There’s a sharp tug on his hair and Tim lets out a pained shout. “Yes what?”

Gritting his teeth Tim snarls out the desired answer. “Yes King Ra’s.”

The hand in his hair lets him go and Tim slumps back down to the ground breathing heavily, hating every single thing about him, his life and Ra’s.

“Good boy. I know you can be well behaved, you just need the right motivation to do so.” The man horrendously praises him.

On the floor Tim clenches his teeth but doesn’t say anything. Soon enough he hears footsteps walking away from him which is then followed by a door opening and slamming shut.

After a while Tim works on getting himself back up into a sitting position. His head hurt. His cheek was still stinging from the slap and the back of his skull was throbbing from where his hair nearly got ripped out of his skull.

Once up right he leans against the throne chair and tucks his knees underneath himself. This is what it’s like to be the King’s personal lap dog and slave. Everyday is just filled with verbal and physical abuse, being dolled up and displayed like a trophy and talked down to like he wasn’t even a human being.

Tim let’s out a heavy sigh, it’s better to be him than one of his brothers. He doesn’t has any importance unlike them, he doesn’t have any value in being protected and loved. That’s the whole reason why he gave himself up wasn’t it? So they could get away from Ra’s who was after them, so they could go on and finish their mission in getting help to over throw Ra’s and reclaim their kingdom back.

Ever since Ra’s Al Ghul attacked their kingdom, killed Bruce in battle and took the throne for himself, it’s been nothing but a challenge. Tim and his brothers were forced into hiding, scared at what Ra’s had planned for them since he killed their father who was king, what was he going to do to them as the princes?

The four of them all made a plan to go to the neighbouring kingdom that belonged to the El’s. The king, Kal-El, was good friends with their father and they hoped that Kal would be willing to help them fight back so they could reclaim the throne. On the way there, the four of them had been found by Ra’s men and the King himself, in order to make a distraction so his brothers could get away and continue their plan, Tim gave himself up.

Tim hasn’t seen his brothers in nearly two years. It’s been two years since he sacrificed himself to become Ra’s slave. Everyday has been hard him but he pushes through it with the belief that they’ll eventually come back and get him, they’ll come back with the help to kill Ra’s so Dick could take the throne and rule over the people as a proper king should. He knows he doesn’t hold as much importance as the others but he knows that they at least love him (he does sometimes question it, but deep down he really knows the truth.)

They’ll come back, they’ll save him, kill Ra’s, save their kingdom and everything will be okay. Tim has to believe in that because right now, that’s all he’s got. 


End file.
